Oak Ridge is Tennessee’s safest city, report says

11/3/2017

Oak Ridge is Tennessee’s safest city, according to a new report based on crime data reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to the report by Safe Wise, a home security news and review company, the city of about 29,000 people reported just seven crimes in 2015.

The “20 Safest Cities in Tennessee“ report is based on data from the FBI’s 2015 Crime in the United States report and population data for communities with a population of at least 3,000.

Of the seven crimes reported in Oak Ridge, only two were violent offenses, according to the report.

It credited the implementation of Oak Ridge’s Not in Our City program in 2011, which focuses on things like neighborhood watch programs and cleaning up neglected homes and neighborhoods, as a factor in the low crime rate.

Oak Ridge Chief of Police James Akagi and Mayor Warren Gooch did not respond to requests for comment.

This is the first year Safe Wise has reviewed Tennessee in its annual Safest Cities profiles. The state ranked 45th out of 48 states for violent crime and 39th in property crime.

Among the cities on the list, two had no incidents of violent crime, 13 had fewer than 10 incidents, and 95 percent reported 50 or fewer violent crimes in 2015.

There were only two counts of murder reported across all 20 cities, and half of the cities reported no incidents of either rape or murder, the report said.